The Diego Costa sale is definitely good for Atletico’s pockets but not a lot else. The unconfirmed departure of Atletico Madrid’s Brazilian-born Spanish striker to Chelsea for £32 million could possibly condemn Atletico to a downfall similar to Borussia Dortmund’s last summer.
I remember writing a piece last autumn claiming that Dortmund had a great chance of repeating the same feats they accomplished in the previous three seasons. The feats included two league championships and two other domestic trophies as well as being a Champions League finalist last season, only to lose out to the superior Bayern Munich.
On the approach to the Champions League final last year, Dortmund confirmed that one of their star players Toni Kroos was heading to their Bavarian rivals Bayern Munich. The move not only reinstated Bayern’s footballing dominance over Germany, but their economic superiority too. Furthermore, Bayern’s purchase of Kroos just further emphasised the divide between the really big clubs and the well-built ones.
One year on and the same thing is happening again. Borussia Dortmund invested the money from the Kroos sale pretty well, but the players they brought in, such as Henrik Mkhitaryan, could not fill the void left by Kroos. They have become far inferior to Bayern Munich and now they are letting star striker Robert Lewandowski move to Bayern on a free this summer. The gap is only going to get wider.
There is a noticeable parallel between what is currently happening at Atletico Madrid and what has happened and is still happening at Borussia Dortmund. Their star players are leaving for supposedly bigger clubs and for a lot more money.
The big parallel that can be drawn from this is that the agreed Costa deal (according to sources close to Sky Sports) has happened immediately before the end of the season. Focus is paramount for any side at this point, and Costa’s sale will ultimately be seen as a distraction before the conclusion of both La Liga and the Champions League.
Chelsea have also got themselves a shrewd deal especially with the overwhelmingly inflated prices of football transfers today. It was only a couple of seasons ago Chelsea paid £50m for former Atletico Madrid striker Fernando Torres. Costa has a better strike rate than Torres at his peak and they supposedly have managed to get the deal done before the World Cup (a half-decent showing at football’s biggest tournament usually inflates prices even more).
If Costa definitely departs the Madrid based side then they have to find a striker to replace the 35 goals he has scored this season. Even with the £32m they will get from the sale, they will have to consider how much of that money they will want to invest in new players, which will include finding a new striker to replace those 35 goals they’ve lost. Essentially it is an impossible task.
However, and quite contradictory to my last sentence, it’s not like Atletico have not been through this before. They only just lost Colombian superstar Radamel Falcao to AS Monaco last summer and two seasons before that they lost Sergio Aguero to Manchester City. You could also throw in the fact that they have lost two other star strikers in Fernando Torres and Diego Forlan in recent years too.
The club has always managed to scout for talent pretty well in recent years to replace the ones they have lost. Torres was discovered at the age of 11 in 1995 and had progressed through the club’s ranks pretty easily.
And Atletico are not afraid of breaking the bank to get the right striker either. They paid around 23 million euros to Independiete for the services of Aguero. They paid a similar amount for Forlan to leave Villarreal. And they paid an even higher fee, around €40m for Falcao to join from FC Porto.
The problem for Atletico Madrid is that whilst they have managed to be successful in scouting and purchasing big in the past, the loss of Diego Costa and Falcao in recent times will inevitably hit them hard. And it does not matter if these players join other teams outside of Spain, because Real Madrid and Barcelona will just buy talent that is similar, if not better, than the services Costa can provide. Basically it’s the same economic gap that Dortmund faces.
Atletico do have some potential replacements including a potential return for Fernando Torres—which, if Atletico’s reputation for strikers are to be believed, is inconceivable, even if he is a club legend. The likes of Lukaku, Remy and Soldado are rumoured to be looking for other clubs outside of England but I don’t think Atletico will see them as a replacement.
It’s difficult to see how they will replace Costa. They have managed to replace striker after striker but this can be seen as the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. It’s a question of how long can Atletico keep being a top side before they lose more players and how will that affect their chances of success. If Costa’s sale goes through then say adios to Atletico’s bright future.
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